Millions of fans and peers welcomed Guwop home following his stint behind bars—but look closely, and you’ll realize it’s a new and improved man who returned. Still on house arrest and managing his rap career from home, 36-year-old Gucci is in a much better place in life. He’s got his loyal girlfriend Keyshia Ka’oir by his side, he’s sober, “more conscious,” and therefore, has a lot more perspective about the drug-ridden life he led prior to getting locked up.

“It was a maximum security prison and it was a lot of violence. People were dying every week. [But] I think it helped me to get to the point I’m at now, to drive me out from the drugs. It gave me time to reflect, it made a lot of relationships that were toxic in my life just fall away,” he tells The Fader in a new cover interview.

Still the lighthearted guy we know and love, he has no plans of letting his time away affect the quality or sound of his music. “I never really made music to make people try to feel sad. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I want them to feel powerful, I want them to feel aggressive, I want them to feel invincible.”

One thing we can appreciate about Gucci is he always feels honest. He shared an intimate moment with The Fader about drug addiction and his failing health prior to prison.

“I done had a history of violence, a history of just erratic behavior,” Gucci says now. “I had a history of drug abuse and drug addiction. All of it ties [together]. It’s just a spiral of destructive behavior,” he admits.

“When I was on drugs so bad, I talked different. When I was smoking weed, a damn near pound of weed every day, I was congested. When I was drinking lean like crazy every day, I was out my mind. I was always sophisticated, but it ain’t even sophisticated now — it’s just a sober, a more conscious Gucci,” he explained. “And people probably ain’t used to it. It took a minute for me to get used to it. But they’re gonna have to get used to it because it’s here to stay.”